A petty criminal on the run from rivals admitted yesterday that he had knocked down and killed a woman while driving a car which had been hijacked from her sister only minutes earlier.

The grim coincidence saw supermarket worker Pamela Phinn, 48, thrown six metres (20ft) across a main road while taking her two grandchildren for a walk less than a mile from her sister's home.

Paul Wales, 47, of Walton, Liverpool, muttered "I'm sorry" as he left the dock at Newcastle crown court while relatives of his victims shouted abuse. He will be sentenced in September after probation and social service reports, but was warned that a jail term was all but inevitable.

Northumbria police have established that Wales left Merseyside in May this year to avoid "associates" and holed up in South Shields on Tyneside. On the day of the tragedy, he walked into the town centre and targeted Mrs Phinn's sister Diane Dalton after seeing her shopping at a tool hire centre. He had been seen loitering suspiciously near parked cars before approaching Mrs Dalton and forcing her to hand over her car by threatening her with a screwdriver. Police were called and Wales drove off at speed. He misjudged a bend less than a mile away and crashed into Mrs Phinn, killing her instantly.

Witnesses told police that Mrs Phinn had managed to shield the children's double buggy from direct impact with the car, probably saving their lives. Wales fought to control the Honda Civic hatchback but it slid across the busy road for another 100 metres before hitting a wall.

He admitted causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance and driving not in accordance with his licence. But his barrister, Paul Sloan QC, told the hearing Wales was adamant that drugs and alcohol had played no part in the accident.

He had been drinking before setting out to steal a car, according to police, but breath and blood tests taken after the crash found that he was not above the legal limit.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission will lead an inquiry into the crash because Wales was being followed at a distance by a police car.

Judge John Milford told Wales that the offences were serious, adding: "You will have been warned by your counsel what the likely outcome will be by way of sentence." As Wales was led back to the cells on remand a middle-aged man stood and shouted: "Rot in hell, you bastard."

After the hearing, Northumbria police said that before the incident Wales had been in touch with an old friend in South Shields and asked if he could stay, to keep out of Merseyside for a while. He had no close links with the north-east and was clearly on unfamiliar ground when he walked round the town centre looking for a car to steal. He was arrested immediately after the accident.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Walker, who led the investigation, said: "It is impossible for anyone to grasp the full extent of the devastation Paul Wales has caused this family by his reckless and dangerous actions. This incident was compounded by the extraordinary coincidence that the Honda was stolen from Pamela Phinn's sister.

"We hope that following today's hearing the family is able to put this part of the events behind them and begin to move on with their lives."